ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Iraqi security forces on Sunday toppled a network of alleged Islamic State (ISIS) members in Kirkuk province and arrested three members, state media reported, as Iraqi forces continue to crack down on jihadist cells in the country. “The intelligence agency’s detachments specialized in combating terrorism in Kirkuk province monitored intelligence information indicating the presence of an ISIS terrorist gang network, consisting of three suspects in the province,” state media said. The three suspects were arrested, and they later confessed “to having carried out several terrorist acts, including the assassination of members of security services” in Kirkuk, it added. ISIS seized control of large swathes of Iraqi territory in 2014. The group was declared territorially defeated in 2017 but continues to carry out bombings, hit-and-run attacks, and abductions across several provinces. The militants have taken shelter in a security vacuum in areas disputed between Erbil and Baghdad, stretching across several provinces including Kirkuk, Diyala, and Salahaddin. Thousands of people have been detained across Iraq since 2014 for suspected links to extremist groups, including ISIS, and hundreds have been executed. Last month, a member of the Kurdish internal security forces (Asayish) was killed in a clash with ISIS fighters in Kirkuk’s Qarahanjir subdistrict. Days later, Iraqi security forces in Falluja arrested a “dangerous” ISIS leader who confessed to the existence of a cemetery containing the bodies of members of the security forces.
